


Incipient

by Paeonia



Series: Quo Vadis: The Extended Edition [4]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Atlantic City, F/M, Fluff, Mr. Peanut - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-29 02:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8471401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paeonia/pseuds/Paeonia
Summary: For indigowild, for her birthday, based on her comment on Chapter 29 of my fic "Quo Vadis": "I can totally see Daniel recounting this day to Peggy in the early days of their relationship, curled together."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [indigowild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigowild/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Quo Vadis?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3804475) by [Paeonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paeonia/pseuds/Paeonia). 



 

 

"Daniel."

"Hm?"

Peggy hesitated. It was so cozy being curled up on the sofa next to Daniel, tucked under his left arm; she didn’t want to break the spell.

But at the same time, he had promised, and he wouldn’t have promised if he didn’t want to say anything. And what she’d seen… well, they’d known each other almost two years now and she’d never seen him do that before, and she was curious — well, maybe not curious, that sounded too much like prying — _interested_ , that was better. She was interested. Because Daniel was interesting.

And this new… understanding they had with each other would seem to grant certain… permissions, and surely one of those permissions would be to ask personal questions, wouldn’t it? Not too personal, of course.  But… personal.

She gathered her nerves and did everything she could to not use her interrogation voice. “Perhaps you could tell me about the peanuts?”

“The peanuts?” Daniel tensed, just a little, and for a moment Peggy was afraid she’d spooked him somehow. But his warm hand was still resting on her arm.

There had been a gathering around the briefing table late that afternoon. Agent Moore was standing next to Daniel’s chair, opening a can of peanuts, and as he turned the key and the can creaked open, Peggy saw a sudden odd, stunned expression come over Daniel’s face.

The scent of the peanuts drifted over the table, and Peggy’s mouth started to water. Agent Moore reached over to offer her some peanuts and Daniel came back to himself. Afterwards, Peggy had slipped up next to Daniel. “I didn’t know you liked peanuts so much,” she’d said. “Or were you just hungry?”

He’d seemed surprised. “Peanuts? I like them all right, but I’m not crazy for them.”

“Really? They seemed to catch your attention when Agent Moore popped that can open.”

“Oh, that. I’ll tell you later.”

Now the workday was finally over, they were back at the house and curled up on the sofa, and the conversation had hit a pleasant lull. It had seemed like later enough to Peggy.

“The peanuts or… whatever it was you said you’d tell me later,” she said, and nestled a bit closer to him. He took the hint and kissed the top of her head.

“So, yeah,” he said, “when Moore opened that can up I just…. Have you ever smelled something that reminded you of something else, and the memory’s so strong that for a minute — _bam_! — it’s like you’re there? And everything else around you is gone?”

“Oh yes.”

“That’s all it was. The smell of the peanuts….” He took a deep breath. “Just took me back, that’s all. Atlantic City.”

Atlantic City: Peggy’s memory pulled up her mental file. Resort, New Jersey, southeastern, not on the main line to Washington but there’s a direct train from New York, Howard’s talked about it, huge Army Air Force training center early in the war, Coast Guard, organized crime presence, there’d been that one case but neither she nor Daniel had been on it, Daniel was from Massachussetts so….

“A holiday?” she asked.

“Not really,” he said. He hesitated, as if he was making a decision. “The hospital.”

Peggy reached up and gently took his hand. He had never spoken of this to her before.

“So… not a good memory. I’m sorry,” she said.

“Oh, no, it’s a good memory. The Army hospital where they sent me after I got hit was in Atlantic City, they converted a bunch of the big hotels there. There was a peanut store on the Boardwalk a little way up, and they would roast the peanuts right there and when they did you could smell it from a couple of blocks away. It smelled so good, especially after being cooped up in the hospital, you know?”

“Oh, I’m sure,” said Peggy. She squeezed his hand.

“The first time… well, the first couple of times I was able to get out of the hospital, it was in the evening, and it was before the tourist season really got started. But then one weekend my dad came down, and we went out to the Boardwalk to look around, and it was such a nice day — it was spring, and the sun was shining and the sky was blue and I remember just standing there taking it all in, and being happy because my dad was there and I was able to get out of the hospital and show him around and things were looking up — and then there was the smell of the peanuts.” He turned his hand over to hold hers.

“So that’s where you were? A spring day at the seashore?”

“Yeah. It sounds even better when you put it that way.”

Peggy’s head started filling with questions — what were you wearing that day? How long were you at the hospital? — but instead she asked, “So did you end up eating any peanuts?”

“Later that afternoon we did. The big entertainment piers weren’t open yet, so we just walked around the Boardwalk and had lunch and looked around. Some of the storefronts there are pretty crazy – there’s one restaurant called the Dude Ranch, the front’s shaped like a giant cowboy —“

“Cowboys in Atlantic City!”

“Yes ma’am,” Daniel drawled. “Wild West show while you dine an’ ev’rythang. That’s not where we had lunch that day, though,” he added in his normal voice. “We went up to the lighthouse, picked up a few souvenirs for the kids on the way back. We did stop off at the peanut store to watch the roasters working. Mr. Peanut gave us some samples.”

“Mr. Peanut himself!”

“That’s right.”

“Fancy that. Perhaps that was a foreshadowing of your glamorous career in Los Angeles, rubbing elbows with celebrities.”

“Maybe. Although he did give me peanuts. That’s more than any other celebrity’s given me, unless you count Stark.”

“True. For all his many faults, Howard is not stingy, though Mr. Peanut is far more respectable. So what else?”

“That was about it. I was out on the Boardwalk a lot more often later that spring and summer, but that was just my first day really out and about. It was a good day. Maybe that’s why it’s stuck with me like that.” He lightly ran his thumb over her knuckles.

“Did your father have a good time, too?”

Daniel’s voice grew soft. “I think so.”

“What is he like?”

“My dad? Stubborn. Frugal. Practical.”

Peggy pressed a smile back.

“I’m hoping to fly him out here for a visit soon,” continued Daniel. “If that works out… maybe you’d like to meet him sometime?”

Peggy’s heart leapt. “I would like that very much.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her cheek. She turned around and stopped short at the sight of his eyes. Such a simple day, walking along the boardwalk with his father, but obviously a treasure of a memory, and he’d trusted her with that treasure, and was inviting her into it by inviting her to meet his father….

“Thank _you_ ,” she whispered. She lay her hand against his cheek as she leaned in for her kiss.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who was the very first voice of Mr. Peanut?
> 
> [RDJ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybhnw0bo_Wc)!


End file.
